


Blue Skies, Peaceful Days

by Devairkus



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Abby tries to figure out life, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Happy Ending, Multi, Sarah is Ellie's hype woman, multiple cameos from characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25771627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devairkus/pseuds/Devairkus
Summary: A No-One-Dies, No-Apocalypse, Everybody-is-Happy, Feel-Good The Last of Us fanfic featuring characters from Part 1 & 2.On their spring break trip, Ellie tries to work up the courage to ask Dina to Prom. Meanwhile, Abby rekindles her relationship with an old flame.
Relationships: Abby/Owen (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us), Ellie & Sarah (The Last of Us), Joel/Tess (The Last of Us)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 75





	1. The Start of Something

**Author's Note:**

> So when I finished TLOU Part 1 a month ago, this was the type of fanfic I was looking for. Something super cute and happy where no one was dead. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any quite like I was searching for (I really wanted Ellie and Sarah as awesome siblings) and I let that go until I started playing Part 2. Then hooo boy that took all the pain I felt from Part 1 and multiplied it by 10 :,) So now that I'm on a bit of a writing streak even though I don't really write, I tried to create this short little glimpse into what that non-apocalypse universe would look like with Part 1 & 2 characters, enjoy.
> 
> Ages: Ellie, Dina, and Jesse - 17  
> Joel - 40 (a happy middle between young and old Joel)  
> Tess - 35  
> Sarah - 15  
> Abby and Owen - 24

“So why Seattle, again?” Joel asked, sipping his morning coffee.

“Isn’t that cold this time of year?” Asked his wife Tess, who was flipping the morning’s eggs on the stove.

“Probably,” said Ellie, “But Dina got our plane tickets for dirt cheap, and it seemed way cooler than driving to Dallas or something.” 

Ellie’s sister Sarah added, “It sounds super fun. I’m sure you and Jesse and _ Dina  _ will have a great time. I can’t wait to go on a fun spring break with my friends like that.” Ellie smiled back at her, Ellie had been in the foster care for years, but four years ago had been brought in by and eventually adopted by Joel, his daughter Sarah, and his wife Tess. Before then, Ellie hadn’t had good experience with foster care. However, when she came to the Miller’s house, they welcomed her with such open arms that she warmed up to them quickly.

“Any idea what y’all plan to do there?” asked Joel.

“We have a couple places picked out we wanna hit, like museums and stuff. But we’re mostly gonna go with the flow I guess, it’s only for a few days,” replied Ellie.

“I hope it isn’t awkward or anything with you three going on a trip together,” said Tess, plating the eggs, “I was so shocked to hear that Jesse and Dina broke up back in February. They were so cute together.”

Ellie’s heart sped up a bit, “Yeah, they said they were just turning more and more platonic as time went on, but they’re totally cool now. Like we’re all just friends.” Dina and Jesse were the first friends Ellie made at the school she transferred to when she was put in the Miller’s care. She was really happy when things worked out with them as a foster family, as Dina and Jesse turned out to be probably the best friends she ever had. However, things had the potential to get kinda messy, as even though those two had been dating since the 9th grade, Ellie also has had a crush on Dina for years. She never said anything about it to Dina though, to respect her friends’ relationship. Also, because she wasn’t sure if Dina felt the same way.

“Well that’s good,” said Tess, “Wouldn’t want your nice affordable spring break trip you planned to go to waste because of a little high school drama. These types of experiences you only get to do once.”

“Yeah, like that and prom,” piped up Sarah. 

Ellie groaned, “Prom is literally  _ so lame _ .” She really didn’t want to go or care about prom. Basically the only thing that could possibly get to go to that was if Dina asked her or something. Like that would happen.

“Just going with your two friends to prom would be fun I bet,” encouraged Joel. Ellie gave him a half smile. They were really trying. 

“Or going with a date,” said Sarah vaguely, Ellie gave her a warning look. Sarah was the only one who knew about her crush on Dina, and she was hoping to keep it that way.

“Yeah maybe,” she replied, “I can talk to them about it on the trip. You’re driving me to the airport in twenty, right Joel?”

“Sure am, kiddo.”

  
  


\----

Abby was right on schedule this morning, sitting on a stool towards the window at her favorite local Seattle smoothie shop. She had just posted her Friday 10AM Instagram post and was checking her analytics. Normally her Monday 1PM posts and her Wednesday 10AM diet posts did better than her weekly Friday posts, but today’s was a video of her squatting the bar, so that was guaranteed to do well. She has to be consistent with her social presence, as this was basically her full-time job now, posting workouts and flexing her abs for her 244k Instagram followers on her account @abs.olutely. 

The likes were coming in fast which was good, and Abby tapped to see her comments. Her smile grew from the ones she recognized to be from her friends.

**rainbow.wolf:** girl holy shit that’s a lot of weight! kill it! Booty poppin!

**jordan2037:** you’re gains have been crazyyyy  💪

**thealvarezman:** damn this video just told me to get off my fat ass and go to the gym haha

But, as per usual, the trolls had showed up as well.

**asdf0101014:** does anybody else here think this girl looks like a freak of nature lmao  🤮

**seth59__** : Y are you trying to look like a man. Too muscaluar. Yuck

**clivethegamerr** : How many roids did u inhale today xD

Abby was used to it, but honestly she was tired of blocking them all. She didn’t really like going in and deleting comments, and besides, her supporters normally just replied and told them off anyway. She tapped over to her notifications and checked her various new followers that added her right after her new post, when someone caught her eye. 

“owen.moore started following you.”

What the hell?

When had he stopped following her? 

Sure, they broke up over a year ago, but they were still friends. Friendly. They were all still in their college friends group chat.  _ She _ still followed him on Instagram. Abby tapped over to his profile. She had even liked his last post from a few weeks ago. It was a pic of his dog, Alice, looking adorable. The pic before that though was one of him and Mel together on the pier. She seemed to have skipped the like on that one. Owen and Mel started dating about two months after Abby and Owen had broken up. Abby wasn’t even quite sure how their relationship had fallen apart anymore. They were so solid their first two years of college, but in her junior year Abby began second guessing her choice of major. She decided to just stick it out and graduate, but Owen decided to switch to marine biology and had to pick up extra courses to be able to graduate only a year late versus two. 

During that time, they didn’t spend as much time together as they used to. Abby knew now she was being too resentful at the time that he was following her passion and she wasn’t. Eventually, Owen began to push away until one day she just got so frustrated at him and the world that she just blew up and broke up with him. She wasn’t even planning to end it, it just came out and Owen accepted it, just like that. 

It was also during that time in her junior year, Abby started distracting herself from her unhappiness at school with a fascination for fitness. She started following a ton of fitness models, changed her diet completely, and started lifting in the gym literally every day. One day, she recorded a video of herself deadlifting 250lbs. It got such a big response on her social media and that made her feel so good to be recognized, it was then Abby suddenly knew this was the route for her.

Over 2 years of consistent, almost admittedly obsessive postings of her fitness journey and lifestyle, Abby was starting to get pretty well known, and that was what now got her out of bed in the morning. Even if nowadays it was starting to get a little old.

It was 10:30 now, which meant it was time to go back to the gym for her morning lifting session. Abby packed up and headed back. When she got there, she was surprised to run into her friend Manny already there.

“Hey Manny, I didn’t think you were going to show up today.” 

“I didn’t really want to,” her friend and roommate responded, “but I skipped last time and you keep antagonizing me with all your disgustingly healthy foods and posts about your ripped abs. It shamed me into coming in today,” he said with a fake pout. 

Abby laughed and greeted him with a low five, “Well I’m glad my tactics are finally working on you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Manny with a sigh, “Okay, I’m gonna get warmed up on the elliptical, you know where to find me.” 

“And you know where I’ll be,” responded Abby, gesturing to the weight racks. She turned and walked over to her usual area, putting in earpods and starting her warm-up.

Abby was a few minutes into her stretches when a familiar silhouette caught her eye. She nearly paid it no mind but looking again,  _ holy shit is that… _ ?

“Owen?” She said, taking out her earpods and turning around. He was standing about fifteen feet away and removing adding weights to a bar. Abby hadn’t seen him in person in a few months, and he looked as she remembered him. Better probably, his hair looked good styled long like that.

“Oh. Hi Abby. Fancy seeing you here.” 

“Fancy seeing me at my local gym that I go to every day?”

“Every day? Damn, I thought I was doing good going three times a week.”

“Don’t you normally go to that other gym across from…”

“Yes, I do. But, it’s a small gym and some of the equipment is out of commission for repair right now, so I asked Manny over there if he could sign me in as a guest at his local spot.” Owen gestured over towards Manny, whose elliptical workout seemed to have significantly slowed and it seemed he was listening in on their conversation with apt attention. Manny gave Owen a quick smile and nod confirmation once he realized the two were looking at him. 

_ Okay… maybe that’s true. Or maybe it's bogus and a setup… either way…  _

“I was about to do some bench presses, want to spot me?” Abby asked him. 

“Sure, how much do you rep?” He asked, adjusting the weights.

“190.”

“Damn,” Owen replied, looking at her heavily muscled arms, “Well I don’t doubt that.”

Abby smirked and they got into the position, 190 for 12 reps might have been hard for her another day, but her need to show off a little didn’t let her down and she finished with ease. She got up and gestured at the bench, “Your turn.”

“Okay,” he obliged. 

“Which weight do you want me to change it to?”

“This is fine, 190.”

He got it off the bar a bit shakily and started slowing down when he got to 10, then 11, and then he made the move to rack the bar again. 

“Hold up, that was only 11.” Abby protested.

“No, no, that was 12 I think you can’t count right,” said Owen, sitting up and sweat now dripping from his brow. “Maybe I’m a little out of practice here, I don’t bench press literally every day like you do.”

“Actually I don’t bench press every day, I switch it up throughout the week.” Abby replied smugly.

“Yeah okay, whatever,” Owen brushed off with a small smile.

They didn’t say anything for a moment, but Abby didn’t want the conversation to end.

“So how’s Mel?” she blurted out.  _ Wow great one, Abby. _

“Mel? Uh, well uh. Well Mel and I actually broke up. About a month ago.”

That was a surprise. Abby had to fight to put on a sad expression.

“Wait really? What happened?”

“I think it was partially because she thought we should move unto the step next, but we had different ideas of what we both wanted. So we just ended it. But yeah, it sucked for a bit,” Owen shrugged.

“Wow. Sorry to hear that. But, who has custody of Alice?” asked Abby.

“Yeah, that’s the tricky part. She may be my dog, but I think she was starting to love Mel more than me. So right now we’re doing a whole split custody thing. One gets to take care of her if the other is on shift or something. Kinda weird, but hey at least we didn’t have kids or anything.” 

“Hah, yeah,” replied Abby. “That would have been a mess.”

“That it would.” Owen shuddered and then pointed towards her, “So hey, anyway. You obviously know I started working at the aquarium a few months ago. But you haven’t gone lately, have you?”

“Not since we went there like 4 years ago,” Abby mused. They went there on their first date, and it had probably been one of the best days of her life.

“Well, I gotta tell you. It’s so much better now. Like, whole new fish.” Abby laughed at this,  _ God he is so stupid. _ “Also,” he continued, “other stuff but most importantly we’re starting this new dolphin show tomorrow. So you should really come in the afternoon and see that. In addition, if you stick around after close I could give you a backstage tour.” Owen looked at her expectantly with a puppy dog expression on his face. Abby had to push out her immediate thought of _ but tomorrow afternoon is also abs and back day. _

“Owen..”

“Come on, I really wanna catch up. We’ve barely hung out in months.”

Abby smiled at her shoes, “Okay…”

“Nice!” Owen clapped his hands together. “See you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll come to your dolphin show.”

“Well I don’t actually train the dolphins, but well you know. Awesome. See you tomorrow. I’ll let you get back to your workout.” He backed away and saluted.

_ What a fucking goof…  _ She thought, shaking her head and putting back in her earbuds. But, she couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.

\----

The flight from Austin to Seattle wasn’t super long, which was good as it wasn’t the most luxurious airplane. The plane was small and there were only two seats on each side and then an aisle. Jesse had practically volunteered his old seat next to Dina to Ellie and sat across from them. He looked quite pleased with himself too after everyone finished boarding and he had an open seat next to him. “Thanks for the swap, Ellie,” he said, before sleeping the whole flight.

“I don’t get how he does that, I hate sleeping on planes,” mused Dina, she took out her earbuds and offered Ellie one. “Wanna listen to some tunes together?”

“Only if we swap to my playlists halfway, I can only take so much Charli XCX.”

“Deal.”

The trio’s AirBnb was quaint and as expected, with two single beds in one room and a full in the other. Jesse claimed the full for himself, “Wow, who knew all I had to do was break up with Dina and get all these awesome perks like a two plane seats to myself, a big bed to myself… I can’t wait to see what newfound privileges I’ll get next!”

“Oh my god, shut up!” laughed Dina. “Come on, I’m starved, let’s find a nice restaurant to eat at.”

The three set down the road and found a moderately priced seafood place. 

“Personally I was in the mood for Italian,” said Jesse as they sat down. The two girls looked at him. “I’m kidding guys, of course we’re gonna come to Seattle and eat seafood.”

“Har, har,” said Ellie. “Anyways, my family is demanding proof of life in our group chat so can we all take a quick pic?”

The others agreed and moved in to get into Ellie’s selfie pic of them all at the table. Ellie sent the pic to her ‘Family’ chat with the caption, “We made it! Seafood time.”

**Joel:** Glad to hear it! Have fun kiddo

**Tess:** Nice! Thanks for the update ❤️ 

**Sarah:** Y’all look so fricking cute  😤😤😤

The waitress came and got their order, and Ellie started zoning out a bit as Dina and Jesse began talking to each other about a TV show she didn’t watch. She was interrupted by her phone buzzing in her hand.

**Sarah:** So are you going to ask Dina to the prom on this trip? Because you should 😏

**Ellie:** omg... Idk maybe. If she said no I’d die. So it’s probably better to not ask.

**Sarah:** girl you are so blind ofc she’d say yes!! When you guys are alone and at some romantic Seattle fish mural or something you should pop the question.

**Ellie:** idk if I even want to go to the prom

**Sarah:** ok but if Dina asked YOU to the prom you’d go in a second, right?

**Ellie:** yeah…

**Sarah:** uh huh. I’m gonna pick out suit ideas for you to get you hyped.

**Ellie:** suit? 😏

**Sarah:** Um yeah, as if you’d be caught dead in a sparkly prom dress! I know you lol

**Ellie:** lol yeah you do 😂

“Hey, Ellie?” Dina’s voice caught her attention.

Ellie looked up from her phone with a grin on her face, “Yeah? Sorry Sarah was texting me about something.”

Dina smiled and lightly put her hand on Ellie’s arm, “We were saying it might be fun to walk around a little tomorrow, have a picnic in the park and then go to the aquarium afterwards.”

Ellie looked at Dina’s hand on her arm and then back up at Dina. Ellie imagined them alone together, illuminated blue by the tanks around them. Her asking the question, and then Dina breaking into a big smile and then hugging her tight.

“That sounds like a great plan.”


	2. Out in the Open

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie, Dina, and Jesse arrive at the aquarium, but will Ellie have the guts to ask Dina to prom?  
> Meanwhile Abby experiences the aquarium, but this time by herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Firefly races are basically like Titan games/crossfit stuff. Anyway, enjoy!

It was a remarkably sunny day out for spring time in Seattle. Ellie, Dina, and Jesse were really enjoying themselves on the warm day, walking down the downtown streets and doing a little window shopping. Ellie’s favorite shop they went to was probably the used bookstore, which was cluttered with obscure novels and some questionable looking cookbooks. Dina had found a raunchy female detective duo mystery-romance hidden in the shelves, and the two were dying over reading the blurb on the back. Dina insisted on buying that one.

The three decided to pick up sandwiches at a deli to eat at their picnic. Waiting in line, Ellie received three images and a text from Sarah.

**Sarah:** What do you think of these suits? 1. Classic black and white 2. All black 3. Some color?? 😉

**Ellie:** holy shit those look so good. Hmm idk… the blue tux is cute but idk if I could pull that off lol

**Sarah:** girl you’d look soooo good in any color. Dina sees you in these and it’s game over lol

**Ellie:** yeah but I’d have to ask her out first…

**Sarah:** any plan??

**Ellie:** not really… I think I’ll just ask when we’re alone and like the mood is right

**Sarah:** don’t worry!! She’ll say yes  😊

**Ellie:** glad one of us is so sure…

With that, the trio’s sandwiches were prepped and they set off a few blocks down to the park. They found a sunny, flat patch of grass and settled down in a circle.

“Hey Ellie, remember in 9th grade when we came over to your house for that history project?” asked Jesse.

Ellie half choked on her sandwich, “Oh my god, Jesse why is that your go-to embarrassing story to start the conversation.”

“Embarrassing? No, I remember it being a really pleasant evening, right Dina?” nudged Jesse.

“Oh yeah, Tess and Joel were so excited for us to be your first friends over they baked like 3 sheets of cookies.” added Dina.

“Well, that’s what happens when Joel bakes. You get 2 and half sheets of burnt cookies,” mused Ellie, cracking a smile.

Jesse wasn’t about to let his tale slip away, “And I kept being an asshole during that project, and Joel pulled me aside and told me to stop picking on you and that you didn’t have any friends. Then you walked in on us, and he pretended like he was talking to me about school even though you clearly heard the whole thing. Good times.”

“Oh god stop,” groaned Ellie. How overly nice the Millers were when she first came to them was super sweet, but it was also so embarrassing when it was around her friends.

“But, it only took him two more times for him to warm up to me and then suggest I ask you on a date,” remarked Jesse.

“ _ Please no _ , my ears are bleeding,” moaned Ellie. But soon all three were laughing and reminiscing on more cringey childhood memories. It didn’t take long for Ellie to loosen up and really enjoy herself, relaxing and chatting with her best friends on the sunny Seattle day. _ I don’t ever want to lose these guys or mess things up with them. They’re the best friends I’ve ever had. _

Ellie’s thoughts were interrupted by something round hitting her in the leg. She looked down in surprise to see a slightly damp tennis ball. Seconds later, an excited german shepherd bounded up to her to retrieve it. 

“Hey there, good dog,” Ellie said sweetly to the happy looking pup. She gave it a pat on the head, and Dina leaned over to pet the dog as well.

“Here’s your ball sweetie,” Ellie told the dog, who grabbed it with its mouth.

“Alice! Alice!” called a petite woman with a pixie cut, walking up to them. “Oh I’m so sorry about that, I’m a terrible aim!” she apologized,

Alice the dog wandered back to the woman, with a ball in its mouth and tail wagging.

“Bye, Alice…” said Dina, softly. “Gosh when I get my own place, I’m getting a dog. My sister will just have to deal with it if she wants to visit me,” she declared.

Jesse sighed and checked his phone for the time, “It’s nearly one, you guys want to head to the aquarium?”

Ellie started to pick up her trash, “Yeah let’s do that.” Then to Dina she said, “If we move in together after college, I’m down for a dog.”

“That’s good to know, but I’m not stopping at one dog.” Dina mentioned outwards dramatically with her hands. “I want a whole ass  _ farm _ .”

Ellie grinned, “We’ll have to look around for a sweet deal on a farm, then.”

  
  


Abby had been in a weird mood since her encounter with Owen yesterday. She found herself scrolling through old college photo albums, many courtesy of her old friend Leah, who was obsessed with documenting whenever the group went out and did basically anything. Abby found it somewhat annoying at the time, but now she was grateful that she could remember all the crazy shit they got into. Abby didn’t realize until the next day, but she hadn’t checked her Instagrams likes or analytics for the rest of the day, instead she’d spent the evening texting Leah and Nora. Afterwards when her dad was off shift, Abby had given him a call and told him about her plans the next day. Her dad sounded tired, but happy to hear from her. When he’d asked why exactly she was going to the aquarium, Abby skirted around saying it was because Owen invited her, and simply said she’d get good pics for her Instagram there.

The next morning, Abby had gotten in her morning cardio which was good, but in the back of her mind Abby was still thinking about her routine and her soon to be missed afternoon workout session.  _ Can’t you let yourself take a break for once and do something fun? Forget about it already, Abby.  _ She scolded herself.

Abby headed to the aquarium a bit past 1PM, and she smiled at the sight of the ferris wheel up close again. Good memories were had there. 

Abby pulled out her phone and took a picture of the ferris wheel and sent it to her dad. His response was almost immediate, a picture of his Bitmoji jumping and saying “YES!” Abby couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Distracted by her phone as she walked to the entrance, Abby found herself colliding with another body. This person was herself engulfed in a passionate storytelling to her friends, waving her hands before accidentally walking into Abby.

“And then I was like… oh  _ shit. _ ” the girl said as they collided. Her half-up auburn hair was askew in her face and her friends following her stopped and laughed.

“Oh sorry, I’m so sorry.” said the girl grabbing Abby’s arm.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t looking either.” assured Abby.

“Wait, wow. Woah.” said the girl, eyeing Abby’s biceps. “Your arms are like goals. Holy shit you’re a beast! I’m so jealous.”

Abby laughed at the compliment and blushed, “Thank you.”

“C’mon Ellie, you’re making me jealous,” said the girl’s female friend. At that, the red-haired girl had a half shocked, open mouthed smile, before taking her hand off Abby and stepping away with her friends. Before walking away, she turned and with a serious expression and pointed at Abby declaring, “Keep up the gains.”

“Hah okay, I will.” Abby said through a smile, walking slower behind them, through the doors to the aquarium. 

Abby was immediately taken aback by the beauty of the atrium, the large whale models swimming in the air and the fish in the floor beneath her feet. The aquarium was moderately full, with families and older groups of friends like the one she just encountered about. Her gaze took her all around the room until it landed on the information kiosk. Inside it was Owen, looking at her expectantly.  _ Oh shit was he there the whole time looking at me and I missed him? Embarrassing… _

Abby walked over sheepishly to the information desk.

“Geez Abby, I must be invisible to you,” lamented Owen dramatically as she reached him.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect to see you at the  _ information desk.  _ I was under the impression you trained seals or something.”

“I wear many hats here,” declared Owen. “I also have prestigious jobs such as cleaning out the fish poop and mopping up many, many puddles. I love my job here.” 

Abby scrunched her face skeptically at him, “Yeah, sounds great.”

“I kid. Partially. I do a lot of random shit around here, but it’s great. This place is _awesome._ ” Owen spread his arms out. Abby gave him a doubtful look. _His mom wanted him to be an accountant._ She remembered. She remembered that night he’d declared to Abby he was switching majors and almost picked Illustration but Abby convinced him to go with his second choice, marine biology. She hoped he actually did love this job and wasn’t just being sarcastic.

“I’m actually helping out with the 3PM sea otter and dolphin show. That’s the one you gotta see.”

“I’ll be sure to, that’s why I’m here after all. You know, to see the sea otters and dolphin show.” Abby replied snarkily.

Owen raised his eyebrows. “Why yes. That’s the reason everyone comes here. Do you have a ticket for the aquarium?”

“No, I don’t. How much is it?” asked Abby, pulling out her wallet.

“$35” 

“Jeez.”

“We got a lotta fish to feed!”

“Evidently!”

“Don’t actually worry about it. I have a ticket for you, employee perks.” said Owen, pulling out a ticket from the desk.

“Oh you don’t have to-”

“Abs. I invited you to come here, I work here and have free tickets. Take one.” he pushed the ticket to her.

She took it with a smile and eye roll, “Thanks.” 

Owen smiled. “Hey, at 5 we close but shoot me a text then. I can get you backstage with the seals.”

_ Send him a text, huh? When was the last time they texted? _ Abby could still recall one of their last conversations they’d had. 

**_Owen:_ ** _ It hurts me to see you like this _

**_Abby:_ ** _ Yeah well I really don’t care. I’m fine just shut up about it. _

**_Owen:_ ** _ Wow. ok. _

_ … _

**_Owen:_ ** _ We need to talk _

Things had definitely cooled off since then, even if it got weird again once Owen had started dating Mel. But, meeting up with them occasionally in group settings eventually got rid of most of the tension at least. Even if Abby seemed to be going to those less and less.

Abby pulled herself out of those thoughts and nodded. “That’s the whole reason I came. Will do. Can’t wait to meet the seals.”

“Great, see you then.”

  
  


“I think I mentioned this before, but my mom really wanted me to pick up this tea from a local place not too far away, but it’s for appointment only and I have to go like now to get it,” said Jesse. The trio had only been at the aquarium for less than half an hour.

“What? Shit, really?” asked Ellie, she didn’t remember him mentioning this before.

“Yeah, kinda inconvenient but I still have my aquarium ticket for today so I’ll be back in less than an hour.”

“Oh, okay.” said Ellie, a little confused.

“Yeah I remember her mentioning that,” said Dina, “Just text us when you’re coming back and we’ll tell you where we are.”

“Will do, see you gals in a bit.” replied Jesse, before leaving them alone.  _ Well, alone except for the dozen kids around, _ thought Ellie.

“Wow, just you and me now,” said Dina with a coy smile and grabbing Ellie’s hand. She led her down the hall to the next exhibit.

“Now this is the best tank of fish yet. Nothing here has quite beat this tank of fish.” said Dina, pretending to be fascinated at some coral and clownfish.

“You’ve said every tank here was the best.” replied Ellie, painfully aware of the fact that Dina was still holding unto her hand.

“I know, I know. But who doesn’t love Finding Nemo. Like that was Pixar’s peak. Also, we don’t talk about Finding Dory. What a cashgrab that was. And the plot? Oh my god, Dory is the most annoying character, why couldn’t they just focus on Nemo again?” Ellie couldn’t help but smile and laugh at Dina’s rant, she loved when Dina would just go off on subjects like this.

The two wandered down the halls, looking at the various tanks of fish. It was calming and pleasant being around the peaceful sea life.

“Let’s go down here,” motioned Dina, lightly grabbing Ellie on the arm. They entered a dome shaped room that was mostly empty of people. Ellie was immediately taken back by the atmosphere of the room, spinning in a circle trying to get the full view. It was like being submerged underwater right with the fish.

“Holy crap, Ellie. Come look at this!” said Dina excitedly, pressed against the glass in the front of the domed room. Ellie went over to where Dina called. She peered through the glass, but didn’t see anything remarkable.

“Just wait, they went away- oh there, there!” Dina pointed.

Ellie looked again and two seals came into view, swimming side by side in circles and seemingly playing with each other.

“They remind me of us,” suggested Ellie.

“They’re so cute. They seem like they’re in love,” murmured Dina.

Chills came over Ellie. She moved her gaze to the profile of Dina’s face, the face of someone she’d come to admire, so, so much since she’d met her. 

_ Oh crap this is the moment. _

_ No I can’t- actually. Fuck it. Yes I can _ . Ellie imagined Sarah in her head hyping her up to say something.  _ I can do it. _

“Hey, Dina?”

“Hmm?” Dina was still staring at the seals.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the prom with me.”  _ Oh shit, I said it! _

Dina raised her eyebrows and looked at Ellie.  _ Does she understand what I mean? _

“I mean like um, like as a couple.”

For an agonizing three seconds, Dina didn’t say anything, expression unreadable. Then, she let out a bark of laughter, and put her hand on Ellie’s shoulder. Ellie’s heart was beating so fast from the adrenaline,  _ why’s she laughing, what does that mean? _

“Oh, Ellie,” said Dina when she composed herself after a second. “I seriously didn’t think you were gonna ask. In fact, I was gonna ask you!”

Ellie’s heart jumped, “What? You were?”

“Yeah!” Dina started laughing again. “Jesse’s out getting part of the promposal I was going to do for you!”

Ellie was speechless. Dina was gonna ask her, and Jesse was in on it?

“Hold on, I need to text him that there’s a change up plans and to just bring it in here,” said Dina, pulling out her phone.

_ Well, I wasn’t really expecting that, _ thought Ellie, speechless. 

“Jesse’s almost back, let’s meet him near the entrance,” said Dina, and they then made their way back through the aquarium and out the doors of the entrance. Jesse was approaching the building with a cardboard tube under his arm.

“The jig is up, huh?” Jesse called. “Well, no matter.” Dina ran up to him and took the top of the tube. She then pulled out a rolled up poster, which Jesse helped her to hold open towards Ellie.

Dina cleared her throat, “You asked me first. So I’ll give you that answer. Yes. I’ll go to the prom with you. But, I still want to ask as well. So, Ellie Williams, will go to the prom with  _ me _ ?

Ellie was dumbstruck at the poster the two were holding towards her. It was like a mock-comic book cover. Digitally drawn and printed on glossy paper, on it were two figures drawn to look like her and Dina, their backs to each other and in an action pose. They were in sci-fi space suits and holding blasters, across the top and bottom, text wrote “ELLIE AND DINA: TAKE P.R.O.M.!”, a space base with the letters ‘P.R.O.M.’ running up it was in the background while the girls were on an asteroid type surface with ugly little red aliens in space suits surrounded them.

“That. Is. So. Dope. That is seriously like the fucking coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Ellie felt shell shocked, but elated. She grinned, and looked up at Dina. “Well, yes! Obviously.” 

“Yay!” exclaimed Dina, letting go of the poster and going up to Ellie to pull her into a tight hug.

“I’m so glad this worked out, even though it didn’t happen how we thought it would,” murmured Dina into Ellie’s ear.

“ _ I _ knew you were gonna ask, Ellie,” piped up Jesse. “Dina didn’t believe me.”

“Shut up,” the girls said at the same time, still hugging. They all started laughing, and Ellie eventually let go of Dina. She went over to the poster that Jesse and Dina had held up.

“This is so cool,” mused Ellie again. 

“I commissioned this artist to make it, but I didn’t want to have it printed out until it was proposal time. I had something else in mind for when to give you this, but I think this worked out fine.” said Dina to Ellie. She then leaned over and gave Ellie a peck on the cheek. Ellie looked at Dina with wide eyes and mouth agape.

“Okay, okay, I can only take so much,” said Jesse breaking it up, “You guys can do that when I’m not standing here awkwardly.”

“Alright, fine,” said Dina, giving Ellie a smirk. She rolled the poster back in the tube and handed it to Ellie. She then intertwined her fingers between Ellie’s and nodded towards the doors. 

“Let’s go back to the aquarium for a bit, I think the dolphin show is soon.”

  
  
  


Abby was having an alright time, the aquarium was pretty and the museum parts of the exhibits were interesting, but it wasn’t like she was blown away. Her mind was a bit preoccupied, and honestly it was a little lonely wandering around the exhibits by herself.  _ At least these sharks were cool. _

“Oh wow, Yara look at this one! He’s so big.” A middle school aged boy called over to what Abby presumed to be his sister, and pointed towards the biggest tank in the room. A shark at least 10 feet long slowly swam past. “ _ Wow… _ ” Abby heard him say again as she too went up to the tank. _ It really was a rather impressive shark,  _ she thought to herself.

“Oh, uh…” Abby glanced over at the kid, he was looking at her. “S-sorry,” the kid said. “It’s just I think I follow you on Instagram!” 

“You do?” Abby asked incredulously. She might have 244k followers, but that hardly meant often she ran into people that knew her from that.

“Yeah! ‘Cause you're also from Seattle and all your fitness stuff is super cool. I’ve been following you since you got 4th in that Firefly games race last year! I bet you’ll do even better this year. Your arms are like  _ iconic _ ,” the boy continued.

“Oh, thank you!” replied Abby, flattered, “What’s your name?”

“It’s Lev! My Instagram handle is ‘levitating’ with two underscores after that.”

“Nice to meet you Lev, I’ll add you back,” said Abby taking out her phone and typing in the handle. Lev gasped, and jumped up and down.

“Done,” Abby said, after following him back.

“Ohmygosh. Can I get a pic with you?” Lev asked.

“Oh! Sure.”

“I can take it,” spoke up Yara, who had been observing them talking with a small smile. She got out her phone and snapped a few pictures of Abby with her arm around Lev. “Got it! Thanks so much.”

“Oh no problem!” said Abby, waving as they parted ways.  _ Wow, running into fans at the aquarium? Owen will lose his shit when I tell him about that. _

Abby continued through the exhibits until it was close to time for the dolphin show, and she headed to the theatre for that. The theatre was impressively big, with a large stage with waves decorating it and a pool in front of that. Along the sides were rows and rows of seats, already half full. Abby scanned the area for somewhere to sit.  _ Would it be sad to sit by herself? _ She thought to herself. Most people seated were in groups of families it seemed like.  _ Maybe if I see those two kids again…  _ Abby thought, walking slowly down the rows. 

“No. No way the second one is better than the third one, the third one’s ending was trash!” Abby heard a familiar voice exclaim. She looked down the row, and saw the voice was from that girl with the auburn hair, sitting with her two friends.  _ Maybe if I sit near them, but like one seat away that’d be cool. _ Figuring that was her best option, Abby scooted in the row.

“Oh! Hey, you’re who I bumped into before! You can sit with us,” beckoned the girl, “I’m Ellie by the way, and this is Dina and Jesse,” Dina and Jesse leaned over the row and nodded their greetings.

“Nice to meet you guys, I’m Abby.”

“Are you from Seattle or are you visiting?” asked Ellie, “We’re visiting for spring break, we’re from Austin.”

“I’m local, I’ve been here for a few years. Haven’t been to this aquarium in a while, though.”

“Did you come just to see the new dolphin show?” asked Dina.

“No, uh well, yeah. A friend invited me here.” Abby realized it might seem weird she said that when no one was here with her. “He works here!” she added quickly, “Yeah we haven’t seen eachother in a while. But uh, we ran into each other the other day and he invited me to uh, see the dolphin show. That sounds kinda, stupid doesn’t it?” Abby was suddenly feeling very self conscious,  _ what was she doing? _ Maybe she should have said no to all this and just kept with her usual schedule. Abby got hit with a wave of anxiety and the burning urge to pull out her phone and stress-scroll through her timeline.

Dina interrupted Abby’s self-destructive thoughts with some words of comfort, “Oh no, that doesn’t sound stupid at all! That sounds great that he wants to reconnect. Are you two gonna meet up afterwards?”

“Uh yeah, actually. He was like gonna show me the backstage or something. I honestly don’t even know what he does here. He first told me he was part of the show, but I saw him at the information desk where he also basically said he was a janitor.” Abby giggled nervously. The group laughed back with her.

“Well I’m sure that’ll be a lot of fun,” continued Dina, “We three had a crazy day. Me and Jesse were setting up this promposal for me to give to Ellie. She didn’t know about it. But then, Ellie here asked me to prom first! Even though I was convinced she wasn’t going to.”

The auburn haired girl blushed. “Well I probably wouldn’t have, if Sarah hadn’t convinced me to do it.”

Dina laughed, putting her arm around Ellie, and then said to Abby, “That girl’s sister is the best wingman I’ve ever met.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet.” Abby mused, and she continued chatting with the group until it was showtime.

The aquarium show started with the sea lions performing a variety of tricks, jumping through hoops and high fiving the trainers in exchange for fish. It was pretty impressive how well they were trained. Abby actually did briefly spot Owen to the side of the theatre, helping to usher the animals on and off the stage.  _ So he does have something to do with it, he wasn’t lying. _

Then came the dolphins, who performed incredible synchronized jumps and dance moves with their trainers.  _ It was a lot of fun, _ Abby had to admit.

After the show, Abby bid farewell to the trio and shot a text to Owen that she enjoyed the show. He replied back that in an hour he’d be to let her in the back door to see the backstage. Abby had seen basically every exhibit and decided to kill time at the aquarium’s cafe and check her social media. A 4:55PM she got the text:  _ hey, meet me by the information desk!  _ And she got up to head down there. Owen was there, out of his uniform and in a hoodie.

“Hey, how’d you like it?” he asked, leading her through some halls.

“It was cool. The show was nice. But, I don’t know, it was just a bit lonely going around by myself.” Abby replied.

Owen’s smile faded. “Oh shit. You’re right. I’m such an idiot. I should have told you to like, bring Manny or something. I just thought, I don’t know. I thought it’s kind of peaceful going by yourself.” Abby looked up at Owen, she could tell she hurt his feelings and felt guilty.

“It’s fine! The show was actually awesome. I was most looking forward to this backstage thing anyway.” 

Owen’s expression loosened into a small smile at this. “It’s through here,” he said, opening a side door.

“I actually met a fan here today,” said Abby, hoping to lighten the mood.

It worked, and Owen broke into a grin, “Wow, really? I had no idea you were that big now.”

“Yeah it was pretty surreal, this kid said he had been following me on Instagram since my Firefly race placement last year.”

“Oh yeah, I didn't get to congratulate you on that! That was awesome you got 4th, I bet you’ll do even better this year.”

“Thanks.” Abby smiled awkwardly at her feet.

“Anyway, this is where I wanted to take you.” The two had reached the top of a tank connected to the seal exhibit. “These guys are my favorite, and we get to feed them.”

Owen grabbed a bucket of fish from a nearby cooler. He beckoned her to sit at a ledge that overlooked the pool. “Uh, some of the keepers just dump the whole bucket in, but I like to throw them in one by one.” Owen reached in the bucket by their feet and threw a fish in. The seals across the exhibit turned their head and started to make their way over to them. “You can throw some in too. If you want. It’s a little gross.”

Abby didn’t even hesitate, she reached in the bucket and threw a fish in, and it was shortly gobbled up by a seal. She smiled and looked over to Owen, but he looked distracted as he threw in another fish.

“Sorry this was such a terrible idea, I should have thought this out more. I’m such an idiot.” he said, shaking his head.

“What are you talking about, Owen? This is fine.”

“It’s just- All I knew is I wanted to see you again. To say I’m sorry, at the very least. I feel like shit about how things turned out. I just wanted us both to be happy.” Owen, shook his head and stared at the seals swimming beneath them.

“It’s not all your fault. I know I was being shit girlfriend towards the end. I was just in such a bad headspace, I kept distracting myself from my problems rather than trying to fix them.” Abby took a breath. “Then when we broke up, I guess that’s why I’m so worried about my social media image and body and all that. It was like another purpose. I felt like I I wasn’t a part of the group anymore.”

Owen looked at her, ‘I never wanted it to end up that way. I still wanted you to be involved because they’re your friends too. I care about you so much. But you just pulled into your own shell and wouldn’t let anyone in anymore. You know even after we drifted apart and stopped hanging out, I’d still ask Manny how you were doing?”

Abby shook her head.

“Good, because I swore him to secrecy,” Owen said with a smirk, Abby snorted. “He’s been worried about you too. I didn’t want you to feel isolated. Even if it seemed like that was inevitable. I’ll be honest, Mel wasn’t keen on inviting you to hangouts anymore.”

“Shit, really? You invited me to a lot anyway.”

“I know, and I could feel you pulling away in each one until it was like you were almost gone.”

“Yeah, I just, I felt like I didn’t belong anymore.”

Owen, looked at her and chewed his lip. “When I decided to change majors, it was like I was trying to find that thing that was going to make me happy. I started to find that when I got a job here. I don’t even care that it’s not prestigious or anything.” Owen took the remaining few fish in the bucket and tossed them in. The seals swirled around in circles, eating them up. “Y’know, Mel told me to unfollow and mute you a few months ago and I did. But I’d still check in and I’d see you stuck in the same loop, and I wondered if you were really happy because I knew I wasn’t. I started the new job, the new major, because my heart wasn’t in the last. I broke up with Mel because I knew my heart wasn’t in that either. Then it all started to click finally. It was all almost coming together.”

Abby didn’t say anything and let that sink in. She thought about what to say.

“The fitness stuff, the social media stuff, I like it but I know I’ve gotten too crazy with it. I know I’m gonna burn out if I keep going at it so hard, most days it’s all I think about. I know I need a better balance and really, I’ve missed being around you and Nora and Leah and Jordan all together.” Abby paused, “Maybe not Mel though, now that I know she hates me.”

They both laughed at that. “Yeah, I don’t think Mel really wants to see either of us anytime soon,” said Owen.

“By the way,” prodded Abby, “When you showed up at the gym, was that coordinated? Was Manny in on that?”

Owen raised his hands, “Okay, you got me. I figured that was the best way to run into you and invite you here. I also tried sneak refollow you.”

“I saw that actually,” Abby smirked.

“Figures.” Owen smiled and exhaled. “Anyway. I guess the main thing is, I want to spend time with you again. But like… _ platonically _ ?” Owen stretched out the last work to gauge Abby’s reaction. “Or at least like slowly, y’know? Like, Manny could come even.”

Abby couldn’t keep down her smile, “Yeah that sounds great, actually. Slowly. How about you come over next weekend and you, me and Manny could watch a movie?”

“That’s great! Yeah.” Owen grinned and awkwardly gave her a low-five, handshake. They both cringed at the same time, realising their hands were covered in fish goo.

“Oh wow, that was kinda gross,” laughed Owen. ‘The sinks over here you can wash up. Hey maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all!”

Abby looked teasingly at him, “Yeah it was definitely not your worst. Nothing tops that time you tried to cook chocolate pasta.”

“Oh don’t lie Abigail, that was delicious and you know it.”

The two walked behind the various tanks of the aquarium, talking about old times. Being there with Owen, him explaining passionately the various sea creatures and their feeding habits made the aquarium a lot more enjoyable. Then, when Abby left for the night and bid Owen farewell until the next weekend, she found herself looking forward to the future like she hadn't before in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That chapter was a bit longer and reminded me why I don't write long fics, lol.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed! The last chapter will be about the first one's length and will wrap everything up. I also have a little surprise to go along with it I think y'all will like. 😉


	3. Good Times Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month has passed and it's the big day for Ellie. Meanwhile, Abby has been getting it together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it's not too brief or anything but I wanted to leave some of the future bits to the imagination. Enjoy!

“Oh my god. You look so GOOD!” exclaimed Sarah to Ellie in her strong Texan accent. “Ellen Page, eat your heart out!” Ellie was dressed in her suit for prom, and this was the first time Sarah had seen her in it.

“You’re ridiculous!” laughed Ellie. “I do look pretty good though, don’t I?” Ellie posed in Sarah’s full length mirror. She wasn’t initially going to go with an indigo satin suit, but Dina picked out a dress in the same color and they figured they’d look good together matching.

“Absolutely! Dina’s socks are gonna be knocked off. Now sit down, I wanna do your face.” Ellie had decided to allow Sarah to do her hair and do a little ‘natural’ makeup on her. Sarah promised no lipstick or foundation, just a little something extra for the special occasion.

“I hope you have so much fun,” said Sarah as she dabbed something creamy on Ellie’s cheeks. 

“Aw, thanks Sis,” said Ellie. 

Sarah was silent for a minute, and when Ellie looked up at her she saw Sarah’s eyes were welling up a bit.

“Oh Sarah, are you okay?”

Sarah nodded quickly and wiped her eyes. “Yeah. Yeah. It’s just…” she voice broke, “I’m really happy for you, and I’m so happy you’re my sister.”

“Oh my god, Sarah.” said Ellie softly, pulling Sarah into a hug.

“I’m sorry, I don’t even know why I’m crying.” Sarah laughed, sputtering from her sudden burst of tears.

“It’s okay,” soothed Ellie, starting to tear up herself. “I’m glad you’re my sister too. You’re the best sister any orphaned foster kid could have hoped for.” The two held each other for a few breaths before finally letting go. After she pulled away, Sarah smiled and grabbed a tissue to wipe the tears off her face.

When she had finished and composed herself, Sarah put down her tissue and picked up her makeup sponge. “Okay, okay, I’m good now. That’s all the mushiness I needed. Now I need to fix up both our faces now for pictures,” Ellie laughed at that.

Fifteen minutes later, the girls had been all fixed up and were just waiting on Dina to arrive. They didn’t have to wait long, from the window, Ellie spotted Dina pull up at the Miller’s house.

“Oh god, she’s here,” said Ellie, suddenly nervous. She checked her hair in the mirror. “Do I look okay?”

“Yes! Girl, you two have been dating for a month and have known each other for four years, what are you nervous about?” reassured Sarah, shaking her head.

“I don’t know!” Ellie figured what she looked like now was the best she was gonna get, she left Sarah’s room and headed down the stairs. Tess was already at the door peering out the window at Dina approaching, she motioned for Ellie to get to the door.

“Okay, okay,” Ellie murmured. She took a breath and opened the door before Dina could knock.

When she saw her, Ellie was breathless. All she could do for a second was have her mouth agape. Dina had on a big, excited smile. Her eyes were glimmering, and more pronounced than usual. Her satin, sleeveless dress was the same shade as Ellies suit, and the layers of fabric lightly blew in the wind, revealing the slit in the skirt.

“Ellie, you look amazing!” Dina broke the silence and greeted her.

Tess popped her head out the door, “Oh come in, Dina! You look so lovely.”

“Yeah, Dina you look... lovely.” Ellie managed to get out.

“Wow, Ellie you’re such a dope.” laughed Dina, grabbing Ellie’s arm and heading inside.

“Joel! Dina’s here!” called Tess out the back door. Joel was in his shop like he often was, making wood carvings.

Dina turned to Ellie, “Even if this dance is totally lame, which it might turn out to be. Even if they play horrible songs, which they are very likely to, just going with you makes it worth it.”

Ellie grinned at her, “I totally agree with that. Plus, we’re so getting wasted at Jesse’s afterparty, and that’s guaranteed to be good.”

“Okay, picture time!” Joel’s voice came from around the corner. 

He and Tess came into the living room, camera in hand. Sarah came downstairs, and beamed when she saw them.

“Okay let’s start with some of the happy couple over here,” said Tess, pointing to where she wanted them to stand as she snapped their pictures. “Okay good, good, gorgeous. Put your arm around her, Ellie. Yes! That looks great.” 

Eventually, Tess was happy with the amount of pictures she took of them, which was fortunate, as Ellie’s mouth was getting sore from all the smiling.

“Do you want me to take a pic of all you guys?” offered Dina.

“Oh would you? Thank you so much Dina,” said Tess, and she handed off the camera to Dina, taking a minute to explain the settings to her.

Joel approached Ellie with a small smile. “Hey kiddo, you look great.” 

Ellie smiled back at him, “Thanks, I think you have sawdust in your hair,” she said brushing it off. Dina held the camera as Tess got in next to Joel, and Sarah followed next to her.

“Thanks, Tess would have been pissed having that in the picture,” whispered Joel in Ellie’s ear.

“You’re welcome, Joel,” whispered Ellie back.

“You guys, ready?” called Dina. “Say cheese!”

  
  
  


It had been a good past month for Abby. She’d relaxed her workout schedule, just a little, to make more time for her friends and to start her new business. Abby decided she was going to start working on a workout schedule and meal plan guide similar to hers that she planned to market to her followers. 

Just last week, the whole Salt Lake Crew met up again. That is, everyone except Mel. Nora, who works with Mel at the hospital, told them Mel started dating a doctor there and would prefer to now hang out with him and his friends. Mel had even dropped Alice off at Owen’s place the other day, apparently saying the whole dog-sharing situation was a bit much for her, and she was gonna just let him have the dog again.

That was all good with Abby, who after the month of reconnecting with her old group, seeing Owen every weekend, and texting him nearly every day, was now ready to start something in her life again. Yesterday, she had texted Owen suggesting that maybe they hang out again that weekend. But, maybe this time as a date. It could be a two part date, he could choose to do something Saturday, and then she had an idea for what to do Sunday. Owen had texted her back, saying he’d like that a lot, and he already knew what to do for his date portion. He didn’t offer any hints, but told her when he’d be around that Saturday evening. 

Now, it was five minutes before then, and Abby was second guessing her choice of outfit. _What if he was taking her to a super fancy restaurant and she was going to be underdressed?_ The only thing Abby felt good about was the fact that she had her hair loose, she knew Owen would like that.

There was a knock at her apartment door, and Abby rushed to go answer it.

“Get lucky tonight, Abs!” called Manny from the living room couch.

“Shut the hell up!” she called back with a smile. 

Abby pulled open the door and Owen was standing there, luckily not too fancily dressed, though his hair had been gelled with a bit more care than usual. In his hands, he was holding a bouquet of daisies, her favorite.

“For you, beautiful lady,” said Owen with a smirk, handing her the flowers.

“Oh, you remembered I like daisies,” she murmured, smelling them and putting them on the table.

“Of course! I remember a lot about you, Abby,” he replied. “In fact, I remember your favorite restaurant in Seattle at one point and time.”

Abby was confused, she didn’t even know what her favorite restaurant in Seattle was.

“Seahouse on the Pier,” stated Owen.

“Oh wow,” laughed Abby. “‘ _At one point in time_ ,’ yeah. As in, that was the first ever restaurant we went to together in Seattle.”

“Exactly!” grinned Owen.

“Okay, that sounds great, actually,” said Abby with a smile and followed him out the door.

At the restaurant, Abby had a great time with Owen. It felt like all the awkwardness was gone now and that they were finally clicking into place. Owen told her about the new tasks he had at his job. The way he spoke so passionately about things like the social dynamics of sea otters made it actually interesting to Abby, and she was so happy for him that he was feeling fulfilled by it. Abby had also filled Owen in on what was going on in her life, and her plans on using her following to grow her future fitness business. He sounded excited for her, and encouraged the idea. When they finished dinner, Owen asked if she wanted to go on a walk, and Abby agreed. They walked towards the sea and to the pier. The ferris wheel was not far away and was lit up in the night sky.

Abby paused, “Wait we’re not going on the ferris wheel, are we?” she asked nervously, stopping in her tracks.

“No, actually,” Owen reassured her. “I think I tortured you enough the first time we went on that.”

“Okay, good,” breathed Abby. “Because I would have said ‘thank you’ and ‘goodnight’ if that was the case.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Owen laughed, “I’m trying to not scare you off this time.”

The two walked along the pier, hands held together, and the sea air slowly drifting by. Abby felt a contentment come over like she hadn’t in a long time. 

“Thank you for the nice evening,” she murmured to him.

“You’re welcome, Abs. I hope whatever you choose for us to do tomorrow will be the same.”

“Oh, no. It’s gonna be quite different,” Abby said ominously.

Owen looked at her, slightly concerned, “What you mean by that, Abby?” 

Abby considered leaving it a surprise, but she figured she’d give him time to mentally prepare. “Well, you know how before you offered to train with me? Well, tomorrow we’re gonna do some CrossFit training.”

Owen looked at her, rather apprehensive, “Okay… what kind of CrossFit training?”

“Oh you know, just some light jogging on the mountain trails.”

“Oh cool, just some _light jogging on the mountain trails_.”

“Yeah! It’ll be your first taste into your journey of being as fit as me,” she teased, hitting him softly in the stomach. “See you at 7AM tomorrow.”

“Oh goody,” said Owen weakly, he checked the time. “If we have to get up that early, does that mean our evening is over?”

Abby turned to him and put her hands lightly on his elbows, “Maybe, almost over,” she said sweetly, and leaned into him. Owen leaned in as well, and met her lips with a kiss. Abby stopped breathing, and for a second there was no outside world, no other people, nothing else that mattered. Abby broke for a breath, and then kissed him again, moving her hands to his cheeks.

When they finally pulled back, Owen still held close to him in his arms. “I missed you, Abs. A lot,” he whispered to her.

“I missed you too, you goober.”

Owen smirked, “Were you always this tall, or did you grow?”

Abby snorted a laugh and pushed away, “Wow, you’re such an idiot.” They looked at eachother, amused. After a second Abby spoke again, “Alright, we should probably head back.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Back to our respective homes of course,” declared Owen. “No funny business on a first date. I respect your father too much.” 

Abby laughed and held onto Owen’s arm as they walked back to his car, “Gosh, tomorrow is going to be so much fun for me.”

“Only you?”

“Yes.”

  
  
  
  


The music selection hadn’t been that bad, in Ellie’s opinion. The DJ picked pretty decent current popular tracks to play and sprinkled in the classics every so often. Before tonight, Ellie hadn’t been the biggest fan of dancing, but Dina was so full of energy that she couldn’t help but be dragged on the dancefloor for most of the night.

“I love the matching outfits, by the way. Looks great,” said Jesse when they had sat down finally for a break. 

“Thanks,” said Ellie with an appreciative smile. _That was probably the twentieth time I’ve heard that tonight._

“Guys. I want a picture of us all,” piped up Dina suddenly, pulling out her phone and getting them all in frame. Looking at the picture afterwards, Dina cooed “Aw, that looks so cute. I love you guys,” and got up, pulling them into a group hug. “I’m glad we did this.”

Suddenly, a familiar classic beat came on. 

“Oh my god, Ellie! It’s _Take On Me_! We gotta go dance.” Dina insisted, pulling Ellie to the dance floor yet again.

“I prefer the acoustic version,” muttered Ellie, but she let herself be pulled and tried her best at matching the moves Dina was putting out. The two danced the entire song, not caring who was staring.

Eventually, the tune faded out and was changed to a slow song. Ellie put her hands on Dina’s waist and Dina put hers on Ellie’s shoulders. For a minute, they just swayed, grinning dumbly at each other and breathing hard from the previous song’s dancing.

Dina decided to break the silence.

“Think we’re gonna win Prom Queen and King?” she asked jokingly.

Ellie busted out laughing, and a few couples turned and looked at her.

“No, no, I don’t think we’re gonna win Prom Queen and King.”

Dina made a scrunched up face, “I think you’re right.”

“I couldn’t care less about that stuff,” said Ellie. “I’m just glad to be here with you.”

“Me too,” Dina said softly, and she closed her eyes and leaned in. Ellie met Dina’s lips in the middle. Ellie’s body warmed from her face to her toes, and her stomach flipped around. The song faded into a hum and Ellie focused on the shape, the smell, the feel of Dina at this moment.

_Yeah Sarah, I think you were right about this one._

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the little surprise at the end! I had a lot of fun putting together the nicest, happy family story I could for these characters that I love. I'm firstly more of an artist than a writer, but there's some stories I really wanted to tell so I tried my best with it, I’m new to fic writing so sorry if it wasn’t great lol.


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